As March roared into Vermont like a lion (and seems prepared to roar again with yet another nor’easter tonight), we asked our favorite booksellersto review the one bookthey are recommending right now. It is our hope this list will help those of us in the Northeast enjoy the next snowstorm a little more by adding a few reasons to curl up by a roaring fire, and that it will also help those of you who reside elsewhere find your next great book to read.

This Will Be My Undoingby Morgan Jerkins (2018) – Honest and enlightening, Jerkins’ debut essay collection is just what I wanted it to be– short bits that allow me to sit with a topic for awhile before plunging straight back in for more. There are surprising points of connection, but more importantly I’ve learned about black culture and her experience with men, hair products, and the Black Lives Matter movement. It takes courage to write about one’s life at such a young age. The shortest passages “How to Be Docile” and “How to Survive” pack a gut punch. They may be small, but they are fierce. That last line is everything. It gives me the inspiration to keep writing, keep pushing, keep reaching. The best essays teach and inspire in equal measure, Jerkins is one to watch.

The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley (2018) – Oh, how I love the mercenary mind of 12-year-old Flavia De Luce. Like Louise Penny and Laurie R King, Alan Bradley succeeds in writing mysteries whose nuanced characters drive the story as much as any plot-device. The ninth book in this series is no different. The young chemist with a fondness for poisons, is accompanied by her two sisters and Dogger, the family friend/servant, on a boating trip, when she almost immediately hooks a body. Not just any body- this body is the son of a notorious poisoner- just the thing to rapturously distract our macabre little heroine from the enormous loss her family is (in their reserved, very British way) attempting to reconcile.

Days Without Endby Sebastian Barry (2017) – Sebastian Barry (in my opinion, Ireland’s best living writer) won the Costa Prize for this mesmerizing novel. It is filled with the travails, loves and adventures of an Irish immigrant to America in the mid-1800s who survives the Indian Wars, the Civil War and Andersonville Prison.

It’s violent, but then so was that era in America’s history. This is stop-you-in-your-tracks writing, and you learn a lot about what it was like to be Irish then.

Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites by Deb Perelman (2017) – I love this cookbook. I’m reading it like a book of short stories. The little essays describing how she came to develop the recipes draw me into her cooking mindset. The recipes themselves are quite approachable, and the ones I’ve already made came out beautifully. I especially appreciate that she provides alternate methods for ingredient prep and doesn’t assume, for instance, that everyone owns a food processor.

Disappointment River: Finding and Losing the Northwest Passageby Brian Castner (2018) – A book filed with historical content and present day adventure. In 1789, Scottish explorer and fur trader, Alexander MacKenzie set out to find the Northwest Passage, a shorter route to China. In 2016, Brian Castner began a 1,124 mile journey in a canoe to retrace MacKenzie’s earlier trek in search of that missing waterway. Great read for that cathartic wilderness experience of suffering from your armchair.

The Rabbit Listenedby Cori Doerrfeld (2018) – When we are upset, it is important to be heard! Often our well-meaning friends try to sooth, distract, or even plan revenge. What we need is a Rabbit in our lives: some one who is present, who listens, who understands, rather than trying to fix things for us. An important book in these times of breakage and shouting; an oasis of healing and comfort. The uncluttered illustrations pair perfectly with the simple text creating a clear yet complex tale.

Personal Historyby Katharine Graham (1997) – I came to this absorbing memoir after seeing the recent film, The Post. Although written 20 years ago, this Pulitzer Prize winning biography remains a strong and insightful read. Graham reveals she spent most of her first 40 years as a shy, insecure person. After the suicide of her husband Phil Graham, the publisher of The Washington Post, Katharine took the helm. She played a monumentally important role in shaping our nation’s history as she quietly guided the paper through many turbulent years, including exposing The Pentagon Papers and Watergate. This is a frank, honest and courageous account of a woman who found her sense of self in a man’s world. To me, she is a remarkable role model.

Winter Sisters by Robin Oliveira (2018) – Oliveira’s second novel about a spirited and determined woman, Mary Sutter. Her first offering, My Name is Mary Sutter, about the young Mary, an experienced midwife who, against immeasurable odds, trains to be a surgeon during the Civil War, won the Michael Shaara Award for Civil War Fiction. This book, also beautifully written, has a sinister slant. Mary, now an established physician with a successful family practice leads the citizenry of Albany in a desperate, exhaustive search for two missing girls, sisters lost during a cataclysmic winter storm. Also lost are their parents in sweeping tragedies of snow and flood that nearly destroy the local lumber mills. Intrigue, politics, and finally, grit get the girls back to the Sutter home. Tenderness and love temper their mistreatment and recovery. An untried attorney skillfully puts the pieces of the case together and sensitively draws out the girls’ account of what happened. During a climactic prosecution, the perpetrator is discovered and a raw justice is served. Haunting but ultimately satisfying.

The Taster by V.S. Alexander (2018) – Berlin 1943: Twenty-five year old Magda Ritter’s parents send their daughter to relatives in the countryside of Berchtesgarden to wait out the war. But Berchetesgarden is the site of Adolf Hitler’s mountain retreat. Magda’s aunt and uncle are passionate Nazis and believe every true German must serve the Fuhrer. With limited jobs available in the small town, they pull their few strings to get Magda an interview with the Reich. Several weeks later she is working for Hitler – as one of the tasters who will sample every dish prepared for him. Based on the life of Margot Woelk, who kept her wartime occupation a guarded secret until she was 95 years old, and peopled with fictionalized versions of other inhabitants of Hitler’s intimate household, this historical novel presents the final years of the war from the German perspective. Loyalty, love and betrayal – to oneself, one’s family and one’s country are key themes which resonate in 2018.

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The Book Jam is…

The view from a small town in Vermont onto the wide world of books where we put the right book in the right hands at the right time.

Through literature and our unique live events — 1) Pages in the Pub, a program bringing disparate communities together around books and 2) BOOK BUZZ, our literacy program for K-12 schools — the Book Jam creates communities. We provide virtual and physical spaces where people can safely discuss difficult issues. Using books, our programs help educate people about important events in their lives and in the lives of others. We build empathy, an essential aspect of healthy communities through discussions about great literature. We increase literacy. And, we draw attention to the wonderful roles of libraries and independent bookstores throughout the world.

WHO WE ARE…

The Book Jam Lisas are two women passionate about reading and sharing our literary discoveries. While we live in the woods, we can spot a great book, especially with the steady stream of excellent suggestions from the indie booksellers up here in Vermont.

WHAT THIS BLOG DOES FOR YOU…

If you’ve got reader’s block – also known as being in a “book jam” – this blog will help. Through posts organized around specific themes and our live events, we open the world of books to you by highlighting books you didn’t even know you needed. If you have issues you need help exploring, this blog will help. If you need to know there are others in the world who feel as you do, this blog will help. We honestly rest easier knowing that you have the right book on your bedside table each night providing whatever it is you need.

Everything we recommend has been personally read and reviewed by one of us – all the way up here in the Green Mountain State.